The Argentine pontiff lost the greater part of one lung to a teenage infection. "He feels it today," says his authorised biographer Sergio Rubin. "He's a little bit slowed by it, but he's OK."
Doctors said that losing one lung doesn't necessarily compromise Francis's health or reduce his lifespan, though it means no strenuous exercise since he no longer has as much air capacity as people with two lungs.
"He probably wouldn't be able to run marathons, but I don't think that would be on his schedule," said Dr Peter Openshaw, director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London. "Having one lung should be enough as long as there is no other disease in that lung."
Shikoni Videon